


I can hear you in my soul.

by caitlesshea



Category: Animal Kingdom (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 15:30:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16579217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitlesshea/pseuds/caitlesshea
Summary: Two souls are sometimes created together and in love before they're even born.-F. Scott Fitzgerald





	I can hear you in my soul.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [allthehearteyes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthehearteyes/gifts).



> I'm a complete sucker for Soulmate AU's & I could not resist writing one with Deran & Adrian.

_ They say the story goes: when you find your soulmate and you first touch them, you’ll begin to hear their thoughts in your head. You’ll be able to communicate telepathically with them. Soulmates are rare, and most meet as adults. But what they didn’t tell you, was that some met when they were too young to understand. And they go their entire lives with their soulmates in their head.  _

 

_ No one told Deran & Adrian this, so they just thought they were like everybody else.  _

 

**Deran: Age 3**

“Mommy, how come I can hear Adrian?”, Deran asks her one day.

 

“Because he’s talking baby”, Smurf answers.

 

“No, in my head”, Deran says and points to his head. Smurf is shocked for a moment. That couldn’t be. You didn’t meet your soulmate this young. She was going to kill Pope and Baz for putting these thoughts in his head.

 

“No baby. Only soulmates can hear each other. You’re way to young”, Smurf reassured her son.

 

Deran didn’t think that was right. As soon as he could understand the voices around him, he knew that he was hearing his friend. And his friend knew it too.

 

**Adrian: Age 5**

Everything hurt. Adrian didn’t mean to fall, but he scraped his knees pretty badly and they were bleeding. The teacher came over to check on him.  

 

“Adrian. It’s okay. We’ll go to the nurse”, the teacher said. No, he didn’t want to do that. Just the thought of moving hurt. 

 

_ “Deran. Deran. It hurts”, Adrian whined. _

 

No sooner than he finished his thoughts, Deran Cody in all his five year old bravado came running over and sat next to him. 

 

“No. He’s hurting”, Deran said to the teacher.

 

“Deran! You are not in P.E. right now. Where is your teacher?”, Adrian’s teacher asked. 

 

Deran shrugs. “I’m going to have to call your mom”, the teacher said, then looked down at the boys holding each other’s hands, Adrian with tears streaming down his cheeks, “Alright both of you. Come on. Adrian we’ll take you to the nurse. Deran can come only because I have to call his mom”.

 

Both boys smiled at that. They were together. Much better. 

 

**Deran: Age 8**

“We just have to keep it a secret”, Deran says to Adrian.

 

“But I don’t wanna”, Adrian says back. 

 

“We have to”, Deran says, too afraid to let Adrian know that his mom and brothers would not be okay with this. Too bad he didn’t actually shut that part out to Adrian.

 

“It’ll be okay. Soulmates are sacred”, Adrian says back. 

 

_ “Just stop”, Deran communicates to him. _

 

_ “Okay”, Adrian sighs back.  _

 

**Adrian: Age 13**

_ “I don’t know why you can’t just tell me the answers. You took this test yesterday”, Deran says annoyed.  _

 

_ “Because D, you have to take it yourself. What were you doing when we were studying?”, Adrian says back fondly. _

 

Honestly, he’s surprised Deran even came to school some days. 

 

_ “Nothing”, Deran grumbles.  _ Adrian smiles, because he knows Deran kept sneaking looks at him. Hell, he does the same thing. He is a teenager after all. And Deran is his soulmate. It’s only natural. 

 

_ “The first answer is A”, Adrian says, because really, who can resist Deran Cody?  _

 

**Deran: Age 16**

“You two sure spend a lot of time together”, Craig says to Deran as he drives Deran to another surf competition.

 

“We’re friends man”, Deran says back. Not ready to get into with Craig this early in the morning.

 

“Right”, Craig drawls out.

 

_ “We should tell him”, Adrian says to him.  _ Dammit, he really needs to work on that. 

 

_ “No”, Deran says back, annoyed. _

 

“What are you doing?”, Craig asks.

 

“Nothing. Jeez”, Deran says back. 

 

**Deran: Age 18**

No one ever told them it gets worse when you kiss. Well, not worse. But the thoughts in his head are all jumbled. 

 

“Woah”, Adrian says as he smiles.

 

“Yeah”, Deran says back with wonder. Then he leans over and kisses Adrian again, because he can. Why did they wait this long?

 

**Adrian: Age 23**

Belize was a dream. There were no words spoken between them. They didn’t need to. It was the first time they could just,  _ be.  _ No one knew them here. No one cared if they walked on the beach hand in hand, spoke to each other as only soulmates do, watched the sunset from their hotel balcony. He never wanted to leave. 

 

_ “I don’t want to leave either”, Deran says fondly.  _

 

Adrian smiles and kisses Deran as he pushes him back on the bed. 

 

**Deran: Age 26**

The worst part about J finding them in the bathroom and his subsequent freak out with his fists, was that he could hear Adrian the entire time.

 

_ “D, please stop. Please. I’m begging you”, Adrian was saying to him with a look of sadness in his eyes.  _

 

_ “I’m sorry. I’m sorry”, Deran says over and over again. The mantra stuck in his head.  _

 

_ “Me too”, Adrian says back.  _ Deran’s heart officially broken _. _

 

…

 

What he didn’t know, was that it was way worse when Adrian cut him off completely. Shut down his mind to Deran and wouldn’t answer when he heard him. 

 

“ _ I just want us to be okay”, Deran would say, even after that night at the shop.  _

 

_ “I’m sorry”, Deran would keep saying.  _

 

He had never heard silence before. 

 

**Adrian: Age 26**

The amount of research it took Adrian to effectively cut Deran from his thoughts seemed endless. No one did this. Soulmates were a perfect match. They wanted to be together. The longest time recorded, that he could find, was only a couple of months. It’s barely been a few hours and he didn’t know if he could do it. Shutting Deran out had taken all of his energy. Sure, they had gone periods of time before where they didn’t communicate telepathically, or hear each other. But those were short lived, and always for a reason. 

 

What Adrian did was effectively sever their connection to one another. Although not so much that they could never get it back. He made sure of that.  

 

The last thing he heard was  _ “I’m sorry”.  _

 

_ “I’m sorry, too”, Adrian says, and then he was gone.  _

 

**Deran: Age 27**

He had almost forgotten what it was like to hear Adrian in his mind, and in his heart. The second Adrian allowed him back in, in the back of his bar with the red tinted lighting, he cried. 

 

“Don’t cry”, Adrian says, pulling Deran to him, both of them barely fitting on the small couch. He feels Adrian kiss his forehead. 

 

_ “I’m sorry”, Deran says to him, through sobs. _

 

_ “No more sorries. It’s okay, D”, Adrian reassures him. _

 

Deran looks up and kisses Adrian back. 

 

**Deran: Now**

“Honestly”, Craig says, “I’m surprised it took you guys this long to move in together.” They’re in Deran and Adrian’s kitchen. 

 

“Why do you say that?”, Deran asks.

 

“Cause man, you’ve always been attached at the hip”, Craig says. 

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about man”, Deran says and then turns around. He goes back to stirring the taco meat on the stove.

 

“You totally do”, Craig says as he takes a swig of beer and pushes a chip through Deran’s homemade guacamole.

 

“Swear you guys are soulmates”, Craig whispers to himself. 

 

Deran freezes, turns around and stares at Craig, “What did you say?”, Deran asks.

 

“Nothing man”, Craig says again. Deran knows they’ve been careful. Never letting on that they were, in fact, soulmates. At this point he doesn’t know why they don’t just admit it. He shakes his head.

 

“Have you ever thought about what would happen if you two did meet your soulmates?”, Craig asks instead.

 

That has Deran pausing. He never considered that in their lifelong charade to not let people know they were soulmates that people would assume they aren’t and that they have partners out there for both of them.

 

“What are you talking about?”, Deran asks. 

 

“I mean. I know you guys act like your soulmates. But what if you ever  _ did  _ find your soulmate? Or if Adrian ever found his?”, Craig asks, “What would you do?”

 

Deran doesn’t want to think about it. He shivers at the thought. The year without Adrian was the worst of his life, and that was entirely self inflicted. But, he doesn’t have to, because they are soulmates. 

 

“I don’t know man. I guess we’d cross that bridge if we came to it”, Deran says instead.

 

_ “You should not be touching anyone but me”, Adrian says as he saunters into the kitchen and grabs a chip.  _

 

Deran shakes his head and smiles.

 

_ “Yeah yeah”, Deran says back.  _

 

Deran notices Craig staring back and forth between them. 

 

“What?”, Deran snaps. Adrian chuckles. 

 

“What would you do if you found yours?”, Adrian asks Craig. Deran is so thankful Adrian is moving the conversation away from them. Craig gets a wistful look in his eye.

 

“Oh man, I would be ecstatic. A person just for me. Who gets me, is my perfect match. I would throw a party. That would be awesome!”, Craig says.

 

Deran and Adrian both laugh.

 

“Man how do you know they’d even like you”, Deran jokes.

 

“It’d be impossible not too, Bro”, Craig says, “That’s the point.”

 

_ “He’s not wrong you know”, Adrian says to him. _

 

_ “I know”, Deran says back. _

 

“Dude we gonna eat or what?” Craig says, effectively breaking up their conversation. 

 

Deran laughs, and turns off the burner, “Yeah man.”

 

…

 

“We should tell them you know?”, Adrian says to him when they’re laying in bed that night.

 

“I know”, Deran says. And he does. He doesn’t think anyone will be shocked. More than likely they’ll just be hurt that they weren’t told sooner.

 

“I did some research”, Adrian says. 

 

Deran turns to lay on his side and look at Adrian, “Yeah?”, he asks.

 

“Mmm”, Adrian says, “When we were apart”, Adrian whispers.

 

Deran grabs Adrian and pulls him flush against him. “ _ I’m sorry”, Deran says. _

 

Adrian smiles and kisses him. 

 

“There are less than a hundred cases of people meeting their soulmates before age 18, and only 5 who met when they were babies like us”, Adrian says. 

 

That’s interesting. Deran knew what they had was special. Was rare. But to have it confirmed, makes his heart clench. 

 

_ “How did you?”, Deran says. Grateful for their connection, because he’s unsure he’d be able to get the words out. _

 

“Just as you did. When you were pulling jobs. Or with someone else”, Adrian whispers. 

 

Deran’s pretty sure he whimpers. He hates thinking about back then. Even though “back then” wasn’t that long ago. He remembers every single time he shut Adrian out. How it hurt him more and more each time. To have that part of him gone, because he was too caught up in his own problems to see that he was pushing  _ his person  _ away from him. 

 

“I’m sorry”, Deran says, this time with tears in his eyes.

 

_ “No more sorries remember?” Adrian says. _

 

Deran nods his head as best as he can in their embrace.

 

“We should tell them”, Deran says. He thinks it’s time. And he’s not ashamed, he wants everyone to know they’re together. That he loves Adrian. That Adrian loves him.

 

“But it is kinda fun watching him try to figure it out”, Adrian laughs and kisses him.

 

Deran chuckles.  _ “Yeah you’re right”, Deran says back without breaking the kiss.  _

 

**Adrian: Now**

They really should tell Craig, at least. He doesn’t  _ really  _ care if Pope or J know. He certainly doesn’t care if Smurf knows. But Craig’s his friend too. And not to mention his own sister. She’s going to be so pissed at him.

 

“Hey man”, Craig says to Adrian as he walks through the front door. Wasn’t it locked? How did he get a key?

 

“Hey”, Adrian says back.

 

_ “I gave him a key”, Deran says. _

 

_ “Asshole”, Adrian says back smiling.  _

 

“Dude. Ya with me?”, Craig says while waving a hand in Adrian’s face.

“Yeah. Sorry”, Adrian says back, “What brings you by?”

 

“Wanted to see Deran,” Craig says, “He here?”

 

“Nah. Running errands for The Drop”, Adrian says, “Want a beer?”

 

“Yeah man thanks”, Craig says. Adrian passes him a beer and notices Craig actually looks,  _ sad.  _ Which is weird.

 

“You okay man?”, Adrian asks. 

 

“Yeah”, Craig says as he takes a swig of his beer.

 

“Actually not really. Renn’s pregnant and I think it’s mine”, Craig gets out. Oh, Deran mentioned Renn was pregnant, but he didn’t say it might’ve been Craig’s.

 

“What makes you think that?”, Adrian says.

 

“Just the timing man”, Craig says.

 

“Have you asked her?”, Adrian asks him. He wouldn’t put it past Craig to assume something like this and not even say anything.

 

“Yeah man. She said it wasn’t”, Craig says, “But I don’t know if I believe her.” Interesting. Definitely not what Adrian was expecting. 

 

_ “Expecting”, Deran’s chuckling.  _ Adrian can’t help it, he laughs, too. Craig gives Adrian a look. Right, different conversation here. 

 

“Sorry man. These things usually work out. I’m sure she’ll come clean eventually”, Adrian says, even though that’s not really true. If Renn wants Craig out of the picture, he’s pretty sure she could make that happen.

 

_ “Or the kid will have blue eyes, and we’ll know it’s his”, Deran quips.  _

 

“Or the kid will have blue eyes, and you’ll know”, Adrian says.

 

_ “Rude. My idea”, Deran laughs.  _

 

“Huh. Good point”, Craig says as he grabs another beer. 

 

“Wish I could meet my soulmate man”, Craig says. 

 

“Mmm”, Adrian says. 

 

“You’re lucky”, Craig says.

 

“How so?”, Adrian ask, although he’s pretty sure he knows where this is going. 

 

“Because man, you have Deran”, Craig says.

 

“Yeah but..”, Adrian trails off. He doesn’t  _ want _ to keep lying to them. It’s been long enough.

 

_ “You can tell him, Babe”, Deran says.  _ Adrian smiles and looks thoughtful.

 

“I’m glad I have him, too”, Adrian shrugs.

 

“I knew it!”, Craig shouts. Craig looks at Adrian again.

 

“What did he just say?! How long have you known?! Holy shit!”, Craig yells and comes over to pull Adrian into a bear hug. Adrian’s lifted off the ground and he’s laughing. 

 

“Put me down!”, Adrian laughs.

 

_ “What is he doing?!”, Deran asks.  _

 

_ “Nothing. Hugged me. He’s very excited for us”, Adrian asks.  _

 

“You’re talking to each other, aren’t you?”, Craig asks, curious.

 

Adrian nods his head and blushes. 

 

“I don’t know how I didn’t notice it before”, Craig says.

 

“You kinda did”, Adrian says. If anyone knew them, it was Craig. 

 

“Yeah”, Craig says, “Man I have so many questions.”

 

“You can ask them”, Adrian says. 

 

“How long?”, Craig asks.

 

“Since either of us can remember”, Adrian says. 

 

“And you never said anything?”, Craig asks.

 

Adrian shrugs, “Guess we didn’t want it to be weird.”

 

Craig peers at him, “But you’ve both been with other people. You guys even broke up.”

 

Adrian’s not sure if those are questions or statements. And he’s not entirely sure how to answer them either, with getting into their history. 

 

_ “You can tell him the truth”, Deran says. _

 

Adrian smiles, “We have. We did.”

 

“Huh. Okay.”, Craig says. Adrian can tell he wants to keep prying. Wants to ask so many questions because he’s practically vibrating, but for once Craig is showing restraint. 

 

“We figured it out”, Adrian says. Because they did.

 

“Yeah”, Craig says, “You did. Tell him to come home so we can celebrate!” 

 

_ “He wants you to come home so we can celebrate”, Adrian says.  _

 

_ “Tell him I’m busy. We can celebrate later”, Deran says and laughs. _

 

_ “Fine”, Adrian sighs. _

 

“He’s busy. Says we can celebrate later”, Adrian tells Craig. Craig rolls his eyes.

 

“Gunna hold you to that Dolan”, Craig says. Adrian didn’t doubt that. 

 

…

 

“I just don’t know why Craig needs us to be at The Drop right now?”, Adrian was asking Deran. And the fact that Deran didn’t know either, was weird.

 

“I don’t know, Babe. He just said to get over here”, Deran answers as he unlocks the door. 

 

As soon as they cross the threshold into the bar the lights flicker on and they hear a loud shout of, “Surprise!”

 

Both he and Deran are stunned silent, taking in the room around them. He can see Craig, Pope, and J. He even sees his sister Jess. He’s overwhelmed. 

 

_ “Well he did say we’d celebrate”, Deran chuckles and looks at Adrian.  _

 

Adrian shakes his head and laughs, “Yeah.”

 

“C’mon”, Deran tugs him into the room to greet everybody. 

 

Adrian looks around and can’t believe his eyes. There’s even a  _ Congratulations! You’re Mated!  _ banner hanging above the bar. 

 

“You do know we didn’t  _ just _ find out right?”, Adrian asks Craig when they walk over to him, as he points to the banner.

 

“Well yeah. But most people tell everyone in their lives when they  _ do _ find out, so this is a normal banner”, Craig says and smirks.

 

_ “He has a point”, Deran says. _

 

_ “We were babies!”, Adrian practically screeches. _

 

“Don’t know how we never noticed it before”, Jess chimes in.

 

Adrian laughs, sheepishly, as he hugs his sister.

 

“Yeah yeah”, Adrian says. He looks around the room, at their friends and family, all celebrating them. It’s a good feeling, knowing he has them. But an even better one knowing he has Deran.

 

_ “I love you”, Deran says to him as he grabs a beer from Craig.  _

 

_ “I love you, too”, Adrian says back.  _

 

“Didn’t anybody ever tell you it’s rude to tell secrets?” Pope deadpans.

 

Everyone laughs. 

 

“Think I heard that somewhere”, Adrian says. Although loving Deran is hardly a secret. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Also posted on my Tumblr - same username.


End file.
